On May 15 of this year, after researching keto and carnivore diets for several months (and for various health reasons), I began a “ketovore” regimen — eating only animal products, supplemented with occasional green leafy salads with a simple oil and vinegar dressing. Besides better nutrition, my goal is to eliminate as much as possible all carbs, sugars, processed foods and seed oils from my diet. One wants to severely restrict or eliminate all grains (wheat, oats, corn, rice etc), as well as legumes, and root vegetables like potatoes or carrots. Dairy and eggs, being animal products, are still acceptable, thankfully. Counting calories and avoiding animal fats are unnecessary — in fact you want to keep the fat content on the high side. To her credit, wifey has joined me in this gustatory adventure, though not as strictly as I’m doing it.
I’m not exclusively carnivore, much less following the “lion diet” (only ruminant meat like beef, bison and venison, plus water and salt), which Dante Ferrigno discusses in the video below, but I try to steer myself in that direction. So far I’ve shed about 25 lbs of unwanted visceral fat, have become immune to any hunger pangs or “carb crashes” midway through my day, and generally find myself eating much less in volume because the nutrient content of this diet is so high.
Turns out the old saw of the necessity of including fruits and vegetables for a “balanced diet” in the FDA’s old food pyramid is complete bullshit (why am I not shocked by this?). Meat supplies sufficient quantities of all the nutrients our bodies need, to which generations of early human survival and robust health attest. I still take a few select vitamins and my l-arginine/l-citrulline heart supplement, but otherwise am consuming nothing Big Pharma is dishing out.
Like most men, I enjoy grilling outside over charcoal on a regular basis — especially nice, thick, fatty, grass-fed ribeye steaks (practice in this ancient art has improved my grilling skills considerably). I find myself quite satiated eating just one big meal a day, with a couple of egg-bites in the morning with my coffee. This diet comes with its cravings early on, to be sure, but I find as I stick with it the urge to consume carbs and sugars dissipates, and I feel stronger generally.
I might revisit this topic in a few months, but that’s the skinny as of right now.
I made these videos to document my experience eating a diet termed the “Lion Diet” by Mikhaila Peterson, daughter of Jordan Peterson, who introduced this diet to my thinking. Lion Diet is a strict version of the Carnivore diet that only allows for ruminant meat, salt, and water. I am not a nutrition expert or doctor, but I hope you will find my story enjoyable and informational, as well as the other content I create.
